Tree stands, in particular climbing tree stands, are well known in the art. Such stands may be placed on a tree or pole and used to elevate the hunter or other user to a desired height for observing nature, working or hunting game animals such as deer.
Climbing tree stands generally have a lower climbing member upon which the hunter stands and an upper climbing member upon which the hunter sits. Each of the upper and lower climbing members have a toothed or jaw member for biting the front side of the tree and a cable or blade device attached to the climbing member which encircles the backside of the tree, thereby supporting the climbing member in a cantilevered position. The jaws or blades bite into the tree, by pivotal action of the climbing member, to hold each climbing member in place after the tree stand is located in the desired position on the tree. Each climbing member may be released or repositioned by simultaneously raising or lifting the climbing member while releasing the cable or blade device encircled about the tree to pivotally disengage the climbing member. The lower climbing member includes foot straps or foot receiving members that are required to be engaged by a hunter for manipulating the position of the lower climbing member. The hunter typically manipulates and positions the upper climbing member with his hands.
When the lower climbing member is within the reach of the hunter, the hunter can use his feet to engage the lower climbing member and together with the upper climbing member may climb the tree as is well understood in the prior art. However, a problem encountered with climbing tree stands occurs when the user steps too close to the tree on the lower climbing member, causing the lower climbing member to lose its bite or connection to the tree and slides down the tree. To overcome this problem, the upper and lower climbing members are tied together with a retrieving rope so that there is little possibility of losing the lower climbing member. In this way, the rope is used to retrieve the lower climbing member should it get beyond the hunter's reach. However, the rope does not prevent the climbing members from becoming operatively disassociated from one another. In this regard, a shorter rope may interfere with the climbing ability of the climbing tree stand and would resultantly also be undesirable for keeping the climbing members operatively associated with one another.
Foot straps or foot receiving members found on climbing tree stands secure the user's feet to the lower climbing member in an attempt to allow the hunter to control the position of the lower climbing member. However, foot straps or foot receiving members are very awkward for the hunter due to body position and the size of hunting boots. The straps or receiving members provide an encumbrance to the hunter's motion. It would be desirable to eliminate the need for foot straps or foot receiving members, while still providing for the functionality of the climbing tree stand without inhibiting the hunter's motion.
Because the climbing members are bulky and difficult to pack or carry, the above-mentioned retrieving rope may be used to tie the lower and upper climbing member together. However, even with the climbing members tied together, the climbing tree stand remains bulky and difficult to carry, especially in dense forest or foliage. Also, the support arms that are rigidly fixed to the climbing member and extend upward therefrom also lend to the bulkiness of the climbing tree stand and may also become entangled with tree limbs and other foliage while hauling. The support arms provide attachment support to the climbing member for the cable or blade device, thereby allowing for pivotal deployment of the climbing members into its cantilevered position upon a tree. U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,634 entitled “Tree Stand” discloses a tree stand in which the support arms are pivotally connected and may swing into an inoperative position. However, the support arms extend undesirably beyond the contained platform member such that the support arms are likely to be caught up in trees or shrubs while walking through foliage. Moreover, the supports arms are likely to make undesirably loud noise while being transported.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved climbing tree stand that keeps the upper and lower climbing members operatively associated with one another. It would also be advantageous to provide a climbing tree stand that eliminates the need for foot straps or attachment members on the lower climbing member. Of further advantage would be to provide a climbing tree stand that is compactable into a user packable profile, especially advantageous for pack-in/pack-out hunting trips.